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Extremists attack Somalia government office, minister among 5 dead
After an hourslong gunbattle, Somalia's security forces took back control of the building in Mogadishu on Saturday afternoon from at least five attackers who forced their way into the government building that houses the ministries of labor and public works, police Capt. Mohamed Hussein told the Associated Press. Saqar Ibrahim Abdalla, Somalia's deputy minister of labor and social affairs, was killed in his ground-floor office shortly after gunmen entered the building, he said. As the attack unfolded, gunfire could be heard from inside the building. White smoke billowed from the scene, according to witnesses. A similar attack targeting a busy area in Mogadishu at the end of February killed at least 24 people. Al Shabab, Africa's most active Islamic extremist group, has been fighting for years to take power and create an Islamic state in Somalia. It frequently carries out suicide bombings targeting public places, hotels and government offices despite being pushed out of Mogadishu. It mostly operates from rural areas in the country's south. Posted by: Besoeker 2019-03-24 |
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